Associate Director, Program Management

About the role: 

Superluminal Medicines, Inc. is seeking an experienced drug discovery scientist who has made the career transition to program management to join our team as Associate Director of Program Management. Superluminal’s platform aims to develop candidate-ready compounds with unprecedented speed using a combination of deep biology, computational and medicinal chemistry, machine learning, and proprietary big data infrastructure. This role will work closely with project teams to manage workflows and track the status of projects within our discovery and early development pipeline. This role is highly integrated across the company and will have a critical role in delivering on the program strategy, making sure projects are executed efficiently and effectively. The ideal candidate is highly motivated, thrives in a startup environment, and brings deep scientific, drug discovery, and program management experience.

Key responsibilities: 

• Execute a program management process that aligns with the organization's goals and objectives for drug discovery and early development projects
• Work with team members to develop and maintain integrated project plans to support the advancement of projects through the project workflow
• Leverage Smartsheets to track deliverables and timelines and summarize the status of all projects
• Collaborate and communicate cross-functionally to measure and achieve program goals
• Attend project team meetings, capturing meeting notes, key takeaways, and action items
• Drive project risk management via scenario planning and proactive identification of key risks; facilitate risk mitigation and contingency planning
• Work closely with the management team to align on how decisions are made and ensure approval is obtained throughout the project lifecycle
• Build and leverage relationships and networks to improve and enhance team dynamics, proactively identifying opportunities and removing obstacles
• Collaborate with Project Team Leads to develop internal and external presentations to gain support for projects and future investments
• Work closely with Operations to translate the project objectives into a budget and resource plan for various stages of the project lifecycle
• Maintain strong communication channels to keep stakeholders informed about program progress and issues
• Identify, communicate, and manage resource constraints, synergies, and redundancies
• Provide guidance, mentoring, and coaching on project management tools and process to colleagues
• Organize and lead project team meetings to gain an understanding of project trajectory
• Identify inefficiencies in our operational processes and implement solutions to address them

Qualifications & Skills:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

• Advanced degree in a scientific discipline
• 7+ years of industry experience with 4+ years of scientific drug discovery experience and 1+ years program management experience
• Drug discovery and early development knowledge across multiple disciplines; familiarity with in silico modeling, machine learning, or computational chemistry programs is highly desirable
• Experience working in cross-functional project teams; experience leading project teams a plus
• Experience with alliance management a plus
• Experience with Smartsheets, Jira, or other program management software
• Exceptional organizational skills and an ability to manage multiple priorities
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including well-developed presentation skills
• Highly adaptable in the face of change as we follow the science
• Good understanding of business and scientific processes to assess the impact of project decisions on scientific, financial, and corporate objectives
• Ability to work onsite at least part-time